IATE Term of the Week: Social Climate Fund

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In a world in which climate change has become one of the most threatening issues for our planet and for the next generations, the European Union is trying to implement measures to tackle all types of inequalities that could result from it.

In July 2021, the European Commission launched the proposal about the Social Climate Fund, also called SCF or just referred to as Fund, in the context of the Fit for 55 initiative.

Social Climate Fund IATE 1
Social Climate Fund IATE 2

This project was created to implement measures leading to climate neutrality and providing a more sustainable and equal society for all citizens of the European Union. The instrument is still very recent but many measures have already been taken, especially for the ones that suffer the most from these issues.

Here are a few examples of the implemented measures:

-reducing costs of energy prices

-financing temporary direct income support for the most vulnerable citizens of the EU

-supporting investments that promote the reduction of carbon emissions

-increasing decarbonisation in the long-term

-raising awareness among all citizens and industries of the EU that can make a difference in the environmental footprint

-accelerating the transition to renewable energy

The objectives of the Social Fund must be strictly defined, in order to make sure that the implementation of the measures will lead to successful results.

Here are two of its main objectives:

-creation of a yearly declining cap on emissions from the road transport and buildings sectors

funding of Member States so that they can support measures and investments imposed by the SCF, such as: decarbonisation, easier access to renewable energy and to low-emission of transports in general

The tackling of the environmental issues is now one of the European Union’s top priority and these measures should be taken at different levels: European, national and local. In By the same reasoning, social and sustainable measures should complement each other since climate change issues have negative consequences on social aspects. The most vulnerable households are the ones suffering the most from climate change with the increase of energy prices . We can even speak of an energy crisis for the most vulnerable citizens of the EU: unemployed people but also workers with a very low income, people living in rural areas or even racialised communities. This tendency highlights inequalities that are even more unfair because studies showed that the people with lower incomes are not the ones polluting the most. There is a real imbalance in the production of emissions between the high-income people and the low-income people because the ones that are less responsible in this are the ones suffering the most from it.

The funding of Member States will make sure that all  EU countries will have all the necessary resources to comply with all of the SCF measures. The whole initiative should still be extended in the months to come so that the upcoming challenges regarding the environmental issues will be tackled as well.


References:

Cairn.info. 2022. Fit for 55: Is the Social Climate Fund Fit from an Energy Justice Perspective? | Cairn.info. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.cairn.info/revue-l-europe-en-formation-2021-2-page-106.htm. [Accessed 03 June 2022].

Climate Action. 2022. Social Climate Fund. [ONLINE] Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/european-green-deal/delivering-european-green-deal/social-climate-fund_en. [Accessed 03 June 2022].

European Disability Forum. 2022. Joint Statement on the Social Climate Fund – European Disability Forum. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.edf-feph.org/joint-statement-on-the-social-climate-fund/. [Accessed 03 June 2022].

EUR-Lex – 52021PC0568 – EN – EUR-Lex. 2022. EUR-Lex – 52021PC0568 – EN – EUR-Lex. [ONLINE] Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021PC0568. [Accessed 03 June 2022].


Written by Cécile Mayeres

She holds a Master’s degree in Translation and Cross-Cultural Communication with a specialization in European mobility. She now does a traineeship in Communication at the Terminology Coordination Unit.